It's a man's game
by Dennis Bernstein
Hockeytalk.biz

DECEMBER 6, 2009 -- Los Angeles – A few weeks ago, I was nestled on my couch enjoying the Saturday night broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada. While the games are inconsequential for the most part, the intermission entertainment and chatter is not.

After the first period, you get Coach’s Corner and if Don Cherry doesn’t make you laugh while making his occasional valid points, I really can’t help you. After the second intermission, the Hot Stove segment gets rolling with the only must-see on the panel being the bombastic former player, coach and general manager Mike Milbury. It’s interesting to see him display an ongoing disdain for the other members of the panel; analysts, writers and now even bloggers, who’ve never played an NHL game. Though Mike is now part of the media community, he still tries to intimidate those who are now his brethren, not the enemy. After all, writers still can’t bang on him for not selecting Zach Parise, can they? While you may not agree with his points, his delivery and frankness make for an intriguing watch.

On this night, the subject of head shots, hitting from behind and the collateral damage they cause was put on the table. It’s not the first time the topic has been discussed nor will it be the last. While Milbury waited his turn while the other panelists chimed in, he was chafing at the bit to add his more than two cents. Boldly, he pronounced, “It’s a man’s game, these things are going to happen.” I pondered the simple statement and couldn’t disavow its essence.

In light of the Alex Ovechkin-Tim Gleason collision and ramifications from it, Pandora’s Box is open at its widest on the subject at the moment. I’ve sat at too many All Star games bored from the opening faceoff to the final whistle because there’s no contact, much less hitting in the game.

Highlights during timeouts in every NHL arena include the hardest hits of the week. If the NHL went to a game that was more like international hockey, surely crowds would dwindle, not increase. Look at an NFL highlight package on any Sunday evening, you’re going to see savage hits and the last time I checked, no one is asking Ray Lewis or Troy Polamalu to tone down their game. These players take risks with every play they fly around the field and they wind up with major endorsements and on covers of video games.

So it’s folly to ask Ovechkin to tone down his game, it’s what people pay to see. Will there be collateral damage? Of coursecourse, there will be but this cat isn’t Bryan Marchment, who was looking to take out people in the course of toiling as an average defenseman. The Great Eight is the most dynamic player to come to the NHL in years, his combination of exceptional skill, size and power hasn’t been seen since Mark Messier’s prime days in an Edmonton Oilers uniform.

The flip (and valid) side to the argument is that the players that are compared to Ovechkin most often never have issues with knee-to-knee shots, slewfoots (or is it ‘slewfeet’?) or accusations of dirty tactics. Sidney Crosby only gets railed in the rare occasion when he jumps a guy in the faceoff circle to start a fight in which no one gets injured. Evgeni Malkin is as rangy as Alex at 6’3” but weighs 30 pounds less; clearly his game is more finesse than power. In these cases, Ovechkin is inarguably rougher and tougher.

When you have 18,000 people in the building expecting to see this 6’2’, 225 pound man playing all out, all the time, what can be the expectations? I’d say the same as what Steelers and Ravens fans have when 43 and 52 go after the quarterback. Like it or not, our primal instinct for violence is locked in our DNA with all the other good things. Some people say that Ovechkin lines up smaller players to deliver punishment, but, but other than fourth line enforcers, everyone is smaller than Ovechkin. Asking a one-of-a-kind talent to display only part of his game, is like asking Tom Brady to throw left handed. Ovechkin’s physicality is as essential part of his game as is his blazing speed or massive shot.

Jarome Iginla, one of the game’s preeminent power forwards, knows action should be taken but really isn’t sure what the exact measures would work.

”As players, you want the head shots to go down,” Iginla told the NHL Network. “I don’t know what the right answer is but hopefully there is an awareness there and hope the refs can call it tighter because there’s definitely too many of those shots. Other than that, I’m not sure if it’s a trend but it’s good to know that the league is trying to improve the situation.”

Another power forward, Los Angeles Kings’ captain Dustin Brown, sees a distinct change since entering the league six seasons ago and it’s not for the better.

“Ultimately, the league is more dangerous now than when I entered and that comes from a lack of respect for the opponent,” says Brown. “The play where Ovechkin got hurt, it’s a regular hockey play but when it starts happening with the same player--and I’m not talking about Alex specifically--that’s when you get concerned. Ovechkin is the type of player who plays that hard all the time and in certain on-ice situations, you just can’t pull up.”

Brown sees similarities in his own game.

“I’m the same way and I’m not going to change the way I play nor is he. The league’s job is to deem what hits are acceptable and communicate it to the players. The situations that occur now are due to the fact that the rule changes made the A LOT faster. My first year in the league, you could clutch, grab and hold and it’s slowed every one down. As far as head shots go, they’ve been around forever; I just think there’s more of a spotlight on it. As a forechecker, it’s a lot easier for you to get into to the zone and that speeds up hits as well.”

Brown doesn’t lay all the blame on the hitters.

“I don’t think that guys protect themselves as well these days,” says Brown, who refuses to lay all the blame on the hitters. “I remember growing up watching the game, a guy would get hit from behind and get up and get back in the play but players wouldn’t put themselves in that position very often. Now, an opponent will turn into a hit to draw a penalty.”

Brown’s coach, Terry Murray, agrees with his locker room leader.

“I go back much further, but when mandatory helmets and then visors came in, the change came,” conveyed Murray. “You could hear it in the sticks, where and when they made contact. The way they were positioned, and you could hear the tapping (on helmets). Instead of going in with your stick low, which is the way I played, the sticks are real high now.”

I’m all for protecting players. Cherry suggested putting rubber around the lip of the boards which could cushion the blow of checks from behind. The NHL needs to take a REAL look at the helmets that are presently in use and whether they have 21st century technology to prevent concussions.

There are numerous ways to make the game safer but when you think about it, the only hit in recent memory that ended a player’s NHL career was the one that had little to do with hockey, the indefensible hit Todd Bertuzzi gave Steven Moore on that fateful night in Vancouver. All the other hits that have caused injury have been adjudicated fairly by Colin Campbell, who’s been far more effective in the league office than he ever was behind a bench as a coach.

Perhaps the real solution is offered by Murray, who thinks a return to “the code” is what’s really needed,

“The players are faster and stronger and the equipment is more protective than when I played,” says Murray. “You’re seeing impact hits all the time due to better conditioned athletes and to tie it all in, you have some careless players who run around and head hunt, it’s very dangerous. The league is doing a great job policing it all but it comes down to the players themselves. The player’s association has to have a group meeting to discuss putting respect for each other back in the game.’

Playing a man’s game has as much to do with respecting your opponent as it does hitting them.

TOP

HOME

2011 Western Hockey Network